tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-366674152018-02-21T01:06:18.793+02:00AFRICA'S SOCIALIST BANNERCommentary and analysis to persuade people to become socialist and to act for themselves, organizing democratically and without leaders, to bring about a world of common ownership and free access. We are solely concerned with building a movement of socialists for socialism. We are not reformists with a programme of policies to patch up capitalism.African Socialisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479354621859167598noreply@blogger.comBlogger2849125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-18396887524731678942018-02-21T01:06:00.001+02:002018-02-21T01:06:19.237+02:00Brain power diaspora
In October 2016, a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast that “migrants [from sub-Saharan Africa] in OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries could increase from about 7 million in 2013 to about 34 million by 2050,” adding that “the migration of young and educated workers takes a large toll on a region whose human capital is already scarce.” ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-64328471085756264312018-02-20T00:59:00.002+02:002018-02-20T00:59:09.276+02:00Returning to the land
Poor job prospects and low pay in cities are pushing thousands of unemployed young people to return home and take up farming, said David Mugambi, a lecturer at Chuka University in central Kenya.
"Young people are increasingly realising that farming can pay off," he explained.
Kenyan youth are not only turning to farming, they are bringing their digital skills with them to rural areas, ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-13509306188972245092018-02-18T23:03:00.000+02:002018-02-18T23:03:13.303+02:00Rhodesia (1968)
The Review Column from the December 1968 issue of the Socialist StandardRhodesiaHarold Wilson, who knows where the votes come from, has never lost any sleep over upsetting his left wing. So we know what to expect from any negotiations over Rhodesia.It was clear that the stands originally taken in both London and Salisbury left no chance for discussion. Something had to give if the two ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-2479390800431640942018-02-17T00:14:00.002+02:002018-02-17T00:14:47.948+02:00Migrants and the cash ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-32862668927031607802018-02-16T06:16:00.002+02:002018-02-16T06:16:16.718+02:00The African Challenge
On January 17, Italy's parliament approved the deployment of up to 470 troops in Niger to combat "irregular migrant flows" and the trafficking of people towards Libya, and, from there, to Europe. A number of other European countries are pursuing similar policies, including France, Germany, and Spain.
The acronym OPL 245 means little, if anything, to most people. Yet, it is the name of the deal ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-88712978527376974402018-02-15T01:49:00.004+02:002018-02-15T06:03:41.569+02:00Congo is getting worse
A humanitarian disaster in eastern Congo is quickly worsening as aid agencies have been forced to pull back due to growing insecurity and slashed budgets, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said. Persistent clashes between government soldiers, local militias and foreign rebels in the eastern borderlands have worsened. The area around Beni has witnessed some of the worst violence inajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-26742014849968747842018-02-15T01:00:00.005+02:002018-02-15T06:04:48.542+02:00Clearing the slums - clearing out the corruption
Corruption, poor management and lack of public consultation have hurt repeated efforts to improve slums, including Kibera, the country's largest, researchers said.
Fieldworkers from Urban ARK, a global research programme, studied three projects in Kenya's slums and recommended future projects consult with affected communities in order to improve the chances of success. Future projects to ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-28246622693017333352018-02-13T07:11:00.000+02:002018-02-13T07:11:00.628+02:00Why is Africa still hungry?
According to the United Nations, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence of undernourishment, affecting about 23 per cent of the population. The situation is worse in Eastern Africa, where the prevalence of undernutrition was about 34 per cent in 2016.
The African Development Bank estimates that Africa spends about $35 billion (Sh3.53 trillion) annually on food importation, and that isajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-19689439754361301742018-02-12T00:17:00.000+02:002018-02-12T00:17:52.626+02:00Background to Aparthied (1968)
From the October 1968 issue of the Socialist Standard
The system of Apartheid thought out and applied by the National Party regime in South Africa is a consciously racist one. There is a long history of repressive and discriminatory legislation aimed against the ‘‘non-white’’, and in particular the African population. The National Party under its leaders Hertzog, Malan, Strijdom andajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-37217672173787364752018-02-11T06:17:00.000+02:002018-02-11T06:17:09.144+02:00Fact of the Day
In a recent report of the African Development Bank, the bank said that about 152 million Nigerians now lived below $2 a day which means poverty is on the increase and that Nigeria may have the highest number of poor population by the end of 2019, overtaking India.
ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-7808637208961511112018-02-09T03:40:00.003+02:002018-02-09T05:57:31.116+02:00World Bank Leeches
A new World Bank reports documents the continent’s impoverishment by rampant minerals, oil and gas extraction — but the bank enforces policies that feed it. Africa desperately needs diversification from mining, but governments remain influenced by trans-national corporations intent on extraction. Even within the World Bank such bias is evident, as the case of Zambia shows.World Bank staff work ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-36819596161719767082018-02-09T01:42:00.002+02:002018-02-09T01:42:25.195+02:00Congo - The People Flee
On Jan. 13, the Congolese army announced a general offensive against the ADF after an attack on a U.N. base in December blamed on the ADF that killed 15 Tanzanian peacekeepers. The military offensive launched last month by Congolese troops against Ugandan militants in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is likely to force nearly 370,000 people from their homes, the United Nations said. The ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-90393859626971265782018-02-09T00:59:00.000+02:002018-02-09T00:59:02.274+02:00Uganda's Child Labor
A new law introduced in 2016 which criminalizes child labor has failed to stop exploitation due to inadequate implementation. More than 2 million children in Uganda are estimated to be still affected.
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) claims 45% of children from households living below the poverty line are forced out of school to work and supplement their parents' incomes, with children ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-46128075698974210672018-02-07T09:44:00.000+02:002018-02-07T09:44:03.745+02:00Africa's Heritage
KINGDOMS OF AFRICA SOUTH OF THE SAHARA DESERT
The empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai were powerful medieval states in West Africa. Each empire was advanced in matters regarding the administration of government and economic prosperity. During each era of their respective histories, they were powerful nations with vital trading links with the commercial world of North Africa and Europe.
GHANAajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-26501461236353563152018-02-06T15:36:00.001+02:002018-02-06T15:36:12.463+02:00South Arica and South Sudan
On January 29, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, the South African minister of defence and military veterans, flew to Juba to visit her South Sudanese counterpart. She wasn’t there to urge South Sudanese authorities to stop and investigate their serious violations in that country’s abusive conflict. Instead she was there to reward South Sudan with a military cooperation agreement. The agreement will ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-82758526180494789942018-02-03T05:39:00.004+02:002018-02-03T07:30:49.579+02:00Kenyan Farming Potential
Last year 1.3 million Kenyans faced starvation, according to the World Bank. Kenya produces less than 40 million bags of maize a year, against demand of 51 million bags. It imports eight million bags of maize a year, more recently due to drought.
The government allocation of Sh15 billion to agriculture this financial year is only six per cent to Gross Domestic Product against recommended 10 perajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-47997091959366546482018-02-02T09:24:00.003+02:002018-02-02T11:03:14.702+02:00Post-colonial Africa
At least 10 million of the 16 million Zambians live in poverty. The Global Hunger Index says that Zambia is the country with the third hungriest population. Hunger levels are alarming in the country, as well as in the Central African Republic and in Chad. About half of Zambia’s population and half of the people of the Central African Republic are undernourished. Last year, Gregory Chileshe of ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-62888655249865410832018-01-30T07:26:00.001+02:002018-01-30T07:26:10.574+02:00African Migration
African migration is predominately within the continent, particularly between neighbouring countries. In 2013, 65 percent of the 20 million sub-Saharan African migrants, who had left their countries, were still living in the region. Migration within and outside of Africa is expected to increase, in part because of continued population growth, with the working-age population of Africa expected ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-304854249235087442018-01-28T06:16:00.001+02:002018-01-28T06:16:17.798+02:00Xenophobia in South Africa still persists
The African Diaspora Forum (ADF) is worried that attacks on migrants could spread to Pretoria. “The mere fact that you are not a South African by birth puts you in danger,” said Marc Gbaffou, the chairperson of the organisation representing foreigners living in South Africa.
Attacks on foreigners started two weeks ago in Rustenburg, when six buildings believed to be owned by Nigerians and ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-42347689003668736312018-01-28T06:09:00.004+02:002018-01-28T06:09:42.067+02:00Corruption Throughout the Continent
Speaking at the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat has disclosed that a $50 billion is lost annually to corruption and Illicit financial flows in the continent.
Mahamat expressed concern that the continent has continuously relied on external assistance because of huge financial loss through ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-78621186313578155062018-01-25T06:43:00.000+02:002018-01-25T11:17:34.914+02:00Call for Action
The capitalist crisis in the world economy has remained intense, deep and prolonged. It is primarily borne out of contradictions of capitalism, in which production is social and the fruits of labour are appropriated privately by a handful of people. This capitalist crisis has driven down standards of living and the livelihoods of millions of people throughout the world.
Unemployment has ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-70902549065953076162018-01-23T09:28:00.001+02:002018-01-23T11:12:16.242+02:00The “second scramble for Africa”.
With crime, corruption, conflict and uncertainty as well as dismal employment figures, higher costs of living and the inevitable fallout of these, moods are generally grim across Africa.
Nevertheless, Africa, as we know, is very attractive to foreigners and demand for investment in African real estate is expected to reach a fever pitch in 2018, and beyond, API Events, Africa’s leading ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-46718054264644226622018-01-23T08:55:00.002+02:002018-01-23T08:55:16.808+02:00Unequal South Africa
Shoprite’s chief executive, Pieter Engelbrecht, earned 1 332 times more money than the average salary of an employee.
Naspers’ chief executive Bob Van Dijk earned 264 times more than an average worker.
Steinhoff’s former chief executive Markus Jooste earned 234 times more.
Siphokazi Mthathi, Oxfam SA’s executive director, said this was why she believed capitalism to be a “crime ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-34833619788483872662018-01-21T04:50:00.000+02:002018-01-21T04:50:04.826+02:00Most Nigerians are in Poverty
The Special Advisor to the President on Social Protection, Mrs. Maryam Uwais, says about 67 per cent of Nigerian population live below poverty line.
ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36667415.post-7900281348676528842018-01-20T02:42:00.002+02:002018-01-20T02:42:24.779+02:00Soth Sudan and a lost generation
South Sudan risks losing a generation that would make it harder to rebuild after the civil war ends.
Henrietta H. Fore, UNICEF's executive director, made the warning after visiting some of the areas most devastated by the war. "70 percent of the children are out of school, that is highest in the world...we are going to lose this generation and that would be tragic for South Sudan because a ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0